Expenses and Financial Aid

Student Enrollment Changes that Can Reduce Financial Aid Eligibility

Introduction

There are three types of enrollment changes that can reduce a student's financial aid eligibility after aid has been disbursed. These are:

dropped courses - the course will not appear on the transcript,

official withdrawal - withdrawal from all courses in a term(W grade),

unofficial withdrawal - student does not earn any passing grades (passing grades are defined as an A, B, C, D, T, S) and the student has not withdrawn officially.

NOTE: Enrollment changes may affect a student's eligibility for aid. Before adding or dropping classes, students are strongly encouraged to meet with their academic adviser and Campus411. Students must maintain a minimum of half-time (6 credit hours) in order to maintain Stafford and PLUS loan eligibility. For detailed information regarding enrollment changes and the impact on your financial aid, visit the financial aid website at www.csuohio.edu/financialaid.

Dropped Courses

When a course is dropped, the course will not appear on the student's academic transcript. Drops occur during the published drop period.

Regardless of when the course drop occurs, dropping courses can affect the aid types listed below (and may affect others). If the award reduction/return of funds creates a balance owed on the student account, the student will receive a bill from the university.

Federal Pell Grants: Pell grants are based on the student's enrollment status: full-time awards (12 or more hours), three-quarter-time awards (9-11 hours), half-time awards (6-8 hours) and less-than-half-time awards (1-5 hours). If the course drop results in a student no longer being enrolled in sufficient hours for the Federal Pell Grant that he or she received, the Pell Grant must be reduced to match the new enrollment status.

Ohio College Opportunity Grants (OCOG): OCOG grants are based on the student's enrollment status: full-time awards (12 or more hours), three-quarter-time awards (9-11 hours), half-time awards (6-8 hours) and less-than-half-time awards (1-5 hours). The OCOG Grant must be reduced to match the new enrollment status.

Direct Stafford and PLUS loans: Students must be enrolled at least half-time (6 or more hours) to be eligible for a Stafford or PLUS loan. If the course drop results in a student being enrolled for less than 6 hours, all Stafford and PLUS loan funds must be returned to the lender.

SEOG, Perkins Loans, Federal Work Study: University regulations require that students be enrolled at least half-time (6 or more hours). If the course drop results in a student being enrolled for less than 6 hours, all SEOG and Perkins funds must be returned. All FWS earnings must be transferred to university employment.

Official Withdrawal from the University

When a student requests and receives a "W" in all courses, she or he is considered to have officially withdrawn from the university. Students who withdraw prior to completing 60% of the term have not earned all of their federal financial aid and a Return of Funds calculation must be performed. The unearned portion of the aid (based on the percentage of the term remaining) is returned to the aid program.

For example, if a student completes only 20% of the term, then he or she has failed to earn 80% of the federal financial aid that was disbursed, or could have been disbursed, prior to the withdrawal. If the return of the funds creates a balance due on the student's account, the student will receive a bill from the university.

Unofficial Withdrawal from the University:

Students
who stopped attending all of their classes prior to the end of the term and
who do not receive ANY earned grades (A, B, C, D, T, S) are considered to be unofficial withdrawals. Fifty percent of the aid used to pay direct educational costs (tuition, fees, room and board) must be returned to the aid program. If the return of the funds creates a balance due on the student's account, the student will receive a bill from the university.

Retroactive Official Withdrawal from the University

If funds have been returned for a student as a result of an unofficial withdrawal, those funds cannot be reinstated, even if the student petitions for and receives a retroactive official withdrawal (all W grades).